St. Clair County Deed Indexes are arranged alphabetically by the first two or three letters of the surname and chronologically by the date filed.
St. Clair County’s indexes are divided into groups, i. e., 1790–circa 1900, circa 1900–1950s and later. Each of these may be searched by the public at the Illinois Regional Archives Depository (Carbondale location), the Belleville Public Library (courtesy of SCCGS), and the Recorder of Deeds office at the courthouse. The library only has the index from 1790–circa 1900. Recent indexes are at the Recorder’s office in book and electronic form.
SCCGS recently began offering to search the deed indexes for a small fee per name spelling per 10-year time span. 
- Example 1: Search John Hoffmann from 1850–1859. This is one search ($15.00)
- Example 2: Search John Hoffmann and John Huffmann from 1850–1859. This is a search for two different surname spellings, so two searches ($30.00).
- Search 3: Search John Hoffmann 1855–1874. This is a search for two decades, so two searches ($30.00)
You receive an electronic report (PDF) by email which outlines what was searched and any findings within three weeks. The report includes the names of the grantor and grantee, book and page(s), instrument number, filing date, and any other information in the index.
OPTION: Mail your check to the SCCGS office with instructions, your name and address, and an email address (required).
See Services for other resources available from SCCGS volunteers.
See the SCCGS public site for Maps and public domain land sales which may help determine who owned the land at a certain time.